Mutual Aid as Social Transformation [Online]
Full Tuition: $320 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Madden | 5 Weeks | Tuesdays | March 5 - April 2 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM ET | ONLINE
Community fridges full of fresh produce for the taking; rent parties for neighbors facing eviction; markets where everything is donated and everything is free. Mutual aid projects understand that we cannot rely on those in power to save us in times of immediate and ongoing disaster. Instead, we have to save one another. Our 5-week class will begin with an introduction to mutual aid, and will carry us through consideration of multiple facets of mutual aid and solidarity, ending with imagining how we can become involved in mutual aid in our own communities. While mutual aid has become better known in recent years, together, we will explore its long history. We’ll learn that the opposite of mutual aid is charity—where rich people allocate crumbs to those considered “deserving” of access and care. Instead, mutual aid lives in the tradition of solidarity. It’s premised on the understanding that the systems and structures are to blame, not individuals. After this introduction, the remaining 4 weeks of our class are organized around a keyword and its relationship to mutual aid: debt, time, disability, and anti-work. For instance, when we study “debt,” we’ll consider Andrew Ross’s argument that practices in support of alternative economies not only exist, but actually have a much larger impact than is usually acknowledged. And when we study time, we’ll reflect on Irvin Hunt’s new work Dreaming the Present. Hunt asks: “What might a movement look like freed from the dictates of progress?” Finally, we’ll plan and build together: How do we want to contribute to existing mutual aid projects? What are the new projects that our communities need?
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Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.
Full Tuition: $320 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Madden | 5 Weeks | Tuesdays | March 5 - April 2 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM ET | ONLINE
Community fridges full of fresh produce for the taking; rent parties for neighbors facing eviction; markets where everything is donated and everything is free. Mutual aid projects understand that we cannot rely on those in power to save us in times of immediate and ongoing disaster. Instead, we have to save one another. Our 5-week class will begin with an introduction to mutual aid, and will carry us through consideration of multiple facets of mutual aid and solidarity, ending with imagining how we can become involved in mutual aid in our own communities. While mutual aid has become better known in recent years, together, we will explore its long history. We’ll learn that the opposite of mutual aid is charity—where rich people allocate crumbs to those considered “deserving” of access and care. Instead, mutual aid lives in the tradition of solidarity. It’s premised on the understanding that the systems and structures are to blame, not individuals. After this introduction, the remaining 4 weeks of our class are organized around a keyword and its relationship to mutual aid: debt, time, disability, and anti-work. For instance, when we study “debt,” we’ll consider Andrew Ross’s argument that practices in support of alternative economies not only exist, but actually have a much larger impact than is usually acknowledged. And when we study time, we’ll reflect on Irvin Hunt’s new work Dreaming the Present. Hunt asks: “What might a movement look like freed from the dictates of progress?” Finally, we’ll plan and build together: How do we want to contribute to existing mutual aid projects? What are the new projects that our communities need?
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.
Full Tuition: $320 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Madden | 5 Weeks | Tuesdays | March 5 - April 2 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM ET | ONLINE
Community fridges full of fresh produce for the taking; rent parties for neighbors facing eviction; markets where everything is donated and everything is free. Mutual aid projects understand that we cannot rely on those in power to save us in times of immediate and ongoing disaster. Instead, we have to save one another. Our 5-week class will begin with an introduction to mutual aid, and will carry us through consideration of multiple facets of mutual aid and solidarity, ending with imagining how we can become involved in mutual aid in our own communities. While mutual aid has become better known in recent years, together, we will explore its long history. We’ll learn that the opposite of mutual aid is charity—where rich people allocate crumbs to those considered “deserving” of access and care. Instead, mutual aid lives in the tradition of solidarity. It’s premised on the understanding that the systems and structures are to blame, not individuals. After this introduction, the remaining 4 weeks of our class are organized around a keyword and its relationship to mutual aid: debt, time, disability, and anti-work. For instance, when we study “debt,” we’ll consider Andrew Ross’s argument that practices in support of alternative economies not only exist, but actually have a much larger impact than is usually acknowledged. And when we study time, we’ll reflect on Irvin Hunt’s new work Dreaming the Present. Hunt asks: “What might a movement look like freed from the dictates of progress?” Finally, we’ll plan and build together: How do we want to contribute to existing mutual aid projects? What are the new projects that our communities need?
—
Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.